<p>The Consumer Price Index, published by the [http://www.bls.gov/cpi/ '''US Bureau of Labor Statistics'''], may be briefly defined as a measure of the average change in prices over time in a fixed market basket of goods and services. Information includes an index for wage earners such as clerical workers, professional, managerial, technical workers, self-employed, short-terms workers, the unemployed, retirees, and others not in the labor force.</p><br>

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<p>The Consumer Price Index, published by the [http://www.bls.gov/cpi/ '''US Bureau of Labor Statistics'''], produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a presentative basket of goods and services. Information includes an index for wage earners such as clerical workers, professional, managerial, technical workers, self-employed, short-terms workers, the unemployed, retirees, and others not in the labor force.</p><br>

'''Consumer Price Index measurements include:'''<br>

'''Consumer Price Index measurements include:'''<br>

Revision as of 18:41, 16 September 2010

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX

The Consumer Price Index, published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, produces monthly data on changes in the prices paid by urban consumers for a presentative basket of goods and services. Information includes an index for wage earners such as clerical workers, professional, managerial, technical workers, self-employed, short-terms workers, the unemployed, retirees, and others not in the labor force.

Consumer Price Index measurements include:

Wages for workers, prices of food, clothing, shelter, fuels, transportation fares, charges for doctors' and dentists' services, drugs, and other goods people buy for day-to-day living. Prices are collected in 85 urban areas across the U.S. from about 57,000 housing units
and about 19,000 retail stores, supermarkets, hospitals, gas stations, and other types of stores and services. Other complex calculations include taxes derived from goods sold as well as percentage and average changes in price during the base period.